JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote a letter to Rabbi Eyal Karim, the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, warning against allowing behavior such as was seen when a group of IDF soldiers used the loudspeakers in one of the mosques in the city of Jenin for the “Shema” prayer, after a broad operation against terrorists took place there in recent days.
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שמע ישראל מהמואזין של המסגד בלב ג’נין pic.twitter.com/JhECR4OrxK
— ינון מגל (@YinonMagal) December 14, 2023
The soldiers involved have been suspended from active duty by Defense Minister Gallant. The IDF announced that “after receiving the clips and an initial investigation by officer, the soldiers have been removed from operational activity. Their behavior was harmful and in contravention of IDF values and they will be disciplined.”
US State Dept. spokesman Matthew Miller also criticized the soldiers actions, stating that “That’s obviously not appropriate.” He added that disciplining the soldiers was “an appropriate step to take.”
Rabbi Yosef wrote that “It is clear that everything that is not directly related to the combat should not be used as a provocation, religious matters in particular.”
“And it must be explained to those soldiers that the religious feelings of members of other religions should not be harmed for any number of reasons that the IDF is against such actions,” he added.
“The people of Israel are the chosen people and do not act like those murderers who mercilessly massacred, looted, corrupted, and desecrated everything that is holy and dear to us. Therefore, we must exercise extra caution and avoid actions that are not useful for the fighting and will cause damage to the nation of Israel and its image in the world,” the Chief Rabbi stated.
At the end of his letter, Rabbi Yosef blessed the soldiers of the IDF that they should be successful in their mission in the battles against the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. “And I hereby strengthen and bless all the IDF soldiers wherever they may be. May the Lord our God grant that our enemies who rise up against us will be defeated before them, and may He deliver them from all trouble and distress, and may they return to their homes and families in peace, and be crowned with a crown of salvation and a crown of victory, and let the words of the Torah be fulfilled in them (Deuteronomy 20:4): “For the Lord, your God, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
This is an example of how a Rav should lead. He uses well chosen, sweet words to deliver his message and then bentches them.
The letter was beautifully and sensitively constructed. Considering the peril, stress and anxiety soldiers experience , this letter was the way to explain how the Am Hanivchar conducts itself . Not a disciplinary, humiliating action.